Thomas Webster Kemp

Admiral Thomas Webster Kemp, C.B., C.M.G., C.I.E., Royal Navy, Retired (27 September, 1866 – 13 January, 1928) was an officer of the Royal Navy. Evaluations and events from his time as a Captain suggest that he was not a very tactful man.

Life & Career

Kemp was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 1 January, 1890. He remained in the gunboat Partridge in lieu of a Sub-Lieutenant (N) until paying off on 14 March, 1892. On 21 July he was appointed to Tribune for the annual manœuvres, and on 15 August he was appointed to Abyssinia for the Indian defence torpedo boat. He was appointed to Magdala on 1 January, 1893 for the same duty. He remained in this appointment until 24 August, 1894.

On 14 January, 1895, he was appointed to Mersey, Coastguard ship at Harwich. He was appointed to the third class protected cruiser Blonde on the Cape Station on 10 September, where he remained until 1898.

Kemp was appointed to Vivid for the Dockyard Reserve at Plymouth on 5 October, 1898, and was appointed to Aurora on the China Station on 16 February, 1899. For his services in China he was promoted to the rank of Commander on 9 November, 1900.

Following promotion he took a Signals course and a Senior Officers' (G) course. He was appointed to Arrogant on the China Station on 1 April, but requested to be relieved in July, 1901, which request was granted and he was superseded on 23 July. He was appointed in command of Sphinx on the East Indies Station on 29 October, 1901. His Sphinx sustained an unsatisfactory inspection in October, 1902 that was "far from creditable to the officers & men." He remained in command in her until 14 October, 1904. During this time he served as Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf.

Kemp was appointed a Companion of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (C.I.E.) on 2 January, 1905.

Captain

Kemp was promoted to the rank of Captain on 31 December, 1905.

On 19 March, 1907, he was appointed in command of the first class protected cruiser Europa. He was appointed to President for a third war course on 11 February, 1908, where he was placed first out of eight class III officers. He was adjudged, "Good, but wanting in tact and judgement, difficult to employ with thus." Dr. Mary Jones in a recent work cites this comment on Kemp by War College head Rear-Admiral Lowry as "the sort of confidential report that appeared for torpedo officers." The argument is undermined by the fact that Kemp wasn't a torpedo officer, and Dr. Jones provides no other examples to support her contention.

He was appointed in command of armoured cruiser Hogue on 11 May 1908 before being appointed to Vivid for trials of armoured cruiser Defence. On 5 October he was appointed to President for an (N) course. In October 1908 he was appointed in command of second class protected cruiser Diana. In September 1909, there was a Court of Inquiry into an accident caused by a loaded pistol having been stowed in a pistol rack. Though no blame was attached to anyone for the mistake, Kemp's Service Record indicates that the Admiralty disagreed and felt that the executive officer had failed in his oversight duties. This seems unusual, in that Kemp was the captain of the ship.

Kemp was appointed captain of the battleship London on 15 September, 1913. Some manner of trouble ensued, resulting in a Court Martial for chief gunner G. B. Hazell who appears to have demonstrated contempt for a superior officer, presumably Kemp. The end result for Kemp was a comment in his Service Record that the Board considered that the gunner had received "provocation from the Captain who had been in the habit of behaving in an unusual manner to his officers when calling their attention to anything he considered wrong. In view of certain other matters of discipline in London directions given for ship to be inspected at an early date & for a special report to be forwaeded as to Captain Kemp's fitness for command of H.M. Ship." After this inspection, Kemp was informed that Their Lordships did not consider that he had acted with the discretion expected from an officer in his position as regard these disciplinary matters.

Kemp paid London off on 17 February, 1914 and was informed he would not be employed afloat, but on shore. He appealed the letter he'd received but was refused. He even requested an outside tribunal of some kind to review the decision, but this was also refused. Kemp would in fact remain entirely unemployed until the exigencies created by the outbreak of the war would cause his status to be reviewed.

Great War

On 5 September, 1914, Kemp was appointed Captain of the armed merchant cruiser Calgarian, which command he held until being called home on 6 September, 1915 to receive a new appointment. On 26 September he was appointed to Pembroke for command of the Iphigenia. At some point in 1915 he returned his commission but was informed that he could not resign from the Service in a time of war for the reasons he gave. On 10 June, 1916, he was appointed Commodore, Second Class whilst Senior Naval Officer at Archangel. On 14 October he was appointed to Vindictive, again as Commodore, Second Class, as Senior Naval Officer, White Sea.

Kemp was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 27 April, 1917. He was placed on the Retired List on 28 April. On the occasion of the King's birthday he was appointed an Ordinary Member of the Third Class, or Companion, in the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (C.B.) on 4 June. In the King's birthday honours of 3 June, 1918, he was appointed an Additional Member of the Third Class, or Companion, in the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (C.M.G.) for his services as Rear-Admiral in charge at Murmansk.

When serving in North Russia, Kemp was remembered as a "white-haired, rugged personality ... and quite one of the toughest specimens of humanity it has ever been my good fortune to meet. In spite of his more than three-score years of bachelor existence, he held in contempt both the climate and the mosquitoes. ... [It] became a proverb among the Russians at Arkhangel that 'It must indeed be a cold day when the British Admiral puts on an overcoat.'" (R. S. Gwatkin-Williams.)

Retirement

Kemp was advanced to the rank of Vice-Admiral on the Retired List on 1 May, 1922, and advanced to the rank of Admiral on the Retired List on 8 November, 1926.

Bibliography

• "Admiral Kemp" (Obituaries). The Times. Monday, 16 January, 1928. Issue 44791, col B, p. 14.
• Jones, Mary (2012). "Towards a Hierarchy of Management: The Victorian and Edwardian Navy, 1860-1918". In Doe, Helen; Harding, Richard. Naval Leadership and Management, 1650-1950: Essays in Honour of Michael Duffy. Woodbridge: The Boydell Press. ISBN 9781843836957.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/88.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/42.

Naval Appointments
Preceded by ?	Senior Officer, Persian Gulf 29 Oct, 1901 – 14 Oct, 1904	Succeeded by Drury St. A. Wake
Preceded by Gerald C. A. Marescaux	Captain of H.M.S. Europa 19 Mar, 1907 – 3 Feb, 1908	Succeeded by Charles H. Morgan
Preceded by Evelyn R. Le Marchant	Captain of H.M.S. Hogue 11 May, 1908 – 26 Aug, 1908	Succeeded by Charles W. Keighly-Peach
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. Defence 26 Aug, 1908 – 5 Oct, 1908	Succeeded by Cecil F. Dampier
Preceded by Heathcoat S. Grant	Captain of H.M.S. Diana 17 Nov, 1908 – 3 Feb, 1911	Succeeded by Sydney S. Hall
Preceded by The Hon. Robert F. Boyle	Captain of H.M.S. Duke of Edinburgh 2 May, 1911 – 2 May, 1913	Succeeded by Cecil I. Prowse
Preceded by Hughes C. Lockyer	Captain of H.M.S. Exmouth 1 Jun, 1913 – 10 Jun, 1913	Succeeded by Hugh L. P. Heard
Preceded by Ernest H. Grafton	Captain of H.M.S. London 15 Sep, 1913 – 17 Feb, 1914	Succeeded by John G. Armstrong
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. Calgarian 5 Sep, 1914 – 7 Sep, 1915	Succeeded by Robert G. Corbett
Preceded by Edgar R. Morant	Captain of H.M.S. Iphigenia 26 Sep, 1915	Succeeded by Kenneth A. F. Guy
Preceded by Oswald McD. English	Captain of H.M.S. Vindictive Sep, 1916	Succeeded by Otto H. Hawke-Genn